INC NEWS - East End Connector to be funded (Herald-Sun)

[John Schelp]

You can learn more about the East End Connector at
http://durhamloop.org/


DOT will schedule East End Connector
By Ray Gronberg, Herald-Sun, 6 September 2006

The next edition of the N.C. Department of
Transportation's six-year construction program will
finally schedule the construction of Durham's
long-planned East End Connector, several local
officials said Tuesday. 

Scheduled for release today, the proposed 2007-13
construction program pledges all the money necessary
to build the nearly $100 million link between the
Durham Freeway and U.S. 70 starting in about 2012,
said Ken Spaulding, Durham's delegate to the state
Board of Transportation. 

The agency's existing program, which runs through
2012, only allotted sufficient funds to the project to
allow engineers to begin buying rights-of-way about
four years from now. 

Local officials -- who've long ranked the connector as
their No. 1 highway priority -- said Tuesday they were
pleased by the news that the 2007-13 program would add
construction money to the agency's existing
commitment. 

They got their first hint that good news was on the
way last week when N.C. Transportation Secretary Lyndo
Tippett called Mayor Bill Bell to tell him the agency
was about to release its draft of the 2007-13 program.


In that call, Tippett "told me that I thought I'd be
pleased with what they were doing," Bell said Tuesday.
"He said enough to leave me with the impression [the
East End Connector] was going to get in." 

Bell added that the project's addition to the
construction schedule is "good for Durham" because of
the connector's likely value to commuters seeking to
get to RTP from the northern parts of the city and
county. 

County Commissioners Chairwoman Ellen Reckhow agreed,
and added that the pledge would finally deliver to
Durham its "fair share" of the money for urban loop
projects the General Assembly promised to seven cities
15 years ago. 

The prospective addition of the East End Connector to
the construction schedule capped months of
behind-the-scenes lobbying that has involved members
of the City Council and the County Commissioners,
Durham's General Assembly delegation, administrators
from DOT and representatives of the governor's office.


It won't be a done deal, however, until the new
construction program gains endorsements from the Board
of Transportation and two local planning groups, one
based in Durham and the other in Raleigh. The Raleigh
planning group may have objections because of the way
DOT would fund the East End Connector. 

The key move would redirect into the project about $69
million previously reserved for an extension of
Interstate 540 known as the Western Wake Parkway.
Officials have been talking about making the parkway a
toll road, which would help them raise 75 percent of
the money they need for it. 

The other 25 percent, however, would have to come from
traditional revenue sources, a problem that could make
officials in Wake County reluctant to part with the
money already reserved for the parkway. 

The result is a complicated and still unfolding
political ballet involving both money and leverage,
with Spaulding occupying a key position because the
DOT operating district he represents also covers Wake
County. Toll-road backers need his support, and for
that matter the Durham planning group's too if they
want to pull off their entire plan. 

Spaulding hinted Tuesday that there are moves on the
money front that have yet to unfold. 

"The department and I are looking for creative and
imaginative ways to address road issues today instead
of wringing our hands in despair about the lack of
money," he said. "I am working with the turnpike
officials in regard to us finding a way to have a
comprehensive network of road construction that can be
delivered within the next five to six years. And I
would very much like to see the Western Wake Parkway
be a part of it." 

Spaulding added that the East End Connector benefits
Wake County too because it promises to ease pressure
on the stretch of U.S. 70 near the Brier Creek
shopping center. 

"What this will provide is a path that makes better
sense and cuts down on congestion and time by allowing
the driving public to leave Interstate 40 at the
Durham Freeway and then travel to the East End
Connector, which will them take them immediately to
U.S. 70, then from 70 to Interstate 85," Spaulding
said.